During a two-hour taping session before a Baltimore Ravens practice, the training room is as busy as a barbershop on Saturday. Athletes are choosy about how they are taped. Ravens wide receiver Clarence Moore likes his shoes spatted. "I don't like tape directly on my ankles. This gives me a little bit of support, enough support," he says.

They're also choosy about who tapes them. Moore prefers assistant athletic trainer Mark Teeples. "Mark knows we like it pretty as well as supportive," Moore says.

Wrap hairy legs with care

With the use of foam underwraps, the need for athletes to shave their ankles or another body part before taping isn't as great. But some tape jobs still are directly applied to skin. Even if underwrap is used, some tape is still anchored to skin. Some athletes do shave.

Defensive tackle Hollis Thomas of the Philadelphia Eagles doesn't just shave his ankles. "I kind of like shave the whole leg because it's dumb to see somebody with just like this much hair," he says, pointing toward his midcalf and higher.

Teeples says working with the same players helps the tapers, too: "Everybody's ankle is different. The first time you ever tape a new person's ankle, it's like learning to ride a bike all over again."

Bill Tessendorf, Ravens vice president of medical services (and head athletic trainer), says that for a typical taping session the team uses seven to eight cases of tape at a total cost of $400-$500.

Tessendorf says a "little over half" of the Ravens opt for ankle taping. Others use braces or nothing. It is their call unless they are injured.

Athletic trainers do not like to be typecast as simply ankle tapers. Tessendorf says most of their time is spent on rehabilitation and the treatment of injuries. But for a couple of hours before each practice and game, they tape.

"We're trying to provide external support to limit abnormal motion," he says. "I can tell you for a fact it seems to work well — if you can afford it. And it depends who's putting it on."